Sun Companies

CONVENIENT, SAFE AND EFFICIENT RECYCLING IS THE CENTRAL FOCUS FOR THIS METRO D.C. ENTERPRISE

November 17, 2016

“Komatsu and Midlantic treat us like we’re their most important customer”

When Brian Shipp graduated from college,
he approached his father, Gary, with the idea to
get into the trash business. Gary, who owned
a kitchen countertop firm, supported this idea
by purchasing a garbage truck. Brian enlisted
the help of his friend, Andrew Springer, and
went to work establishing the company. Twelve
years later, the trio is still at it.

“We really had to prove ourselves in the
beginning,” Andrew revealed. “Several
customers said, ‘take this job, and if you
really can perform, then you can start doing
more of our work.’ We thought some of those
customers were making things up to see if we
would do them. It was a gamble, but we took
every job. It’s paid off.”

Brian would drive roll-off trucks home
after delivering dumpsters at midnight
because they required a 4:00 a.m. pick up.
Performing well on those jobs not only built
the company’s reputation, but also gave Brian
and Andrew advanced degrees in logistics
and commitment.

“When a customer wants a container for four
hours in the middle of the night, you find a
way to make it work,” Brian explained. “We
tried to be better than the industry standard
because that was the only way we were going
to make it.”

The venture led to the creation of Sun
Companies, an umbrella organization that
includes Sun Recycling, Sun Equipment and
a trucking division called Sun Services. Today,
Sun Companies has 50-plus regular and
temporary employees. Brian and Andrew run
the day-to-day operations while Gary serves as
an advisor.

Recycling pays off

Gary assumed the idea of starting a trash
company would be short-lived, and he was
correct – to a point.

“It became evident that there wasn’t much
money in hauling trash,” Gary recalled. “To
increase revenue, we would need a disposal
site. We believed recycling was the wave of the
future.”

In 2009, Brian and Andrew began the nearly
five-year process of attaining permits, acquiring
land and building a proper recycling facility
in Prince George’s County, just outside of
Washington D.C.

“It was a long process, but we finally
opened the doors to the facility in 2013,”
Andrew reported. “Maryland has very
strict requirements for recycling facilities.
All processing must be done inside, and we
are only allowed to accept construction and
demolition debris.”

Now, Sun Recycling processes nearly 500
tons of material per day. Roughly 30 percent
of it comes from Sun Services, which has
15 trucks and a healthy roll-off business. Sun
Recycling receives material at its facility on
the tip floor before it’s sized and placed on
a metering belt. From there it’s screened,
sorted by hand, run under a magnet and then
passed though an air separator, which divides
material by density.

“We manually pull out metal, steel, plastic
and cardboard and ship it to raw markets;
concrete is crushed; and wood is used for
mulch,” said Brian. “This accounts for
50 percent of the material we collect.

“Another 40 percent is the residual material,
which is sent to waste-energy plants and can
be burned to create energy. Only the remaining
10 percent – whatever materials they can’t
take – is sent to the landfill.”

Recycling as much material as possible is
more than Sun Recycling’s job, it is the passion
that drives the organization.

“We are serious about recycling; we don’t just
pay lip service to it,” said Andrew. “We believe
recycling will only become more important.
There aren’t many companies recycling at
our level.”

Safer, efficient and easy

Brian and Andrew designed their facility so
that it’s easy for companies to dump materials
there. Location plays a big role, but Sun
Recycling goes above and beyond to simplify
the process.

“Trucking has a high cost, and most drivers
are going to dump their loads at the closest
facility,” Brian shared. “Our drivers will
unload at someone else’s place if it means they
can save half an hour.

“Drivers are going to use a facility that is the
most convenient for them,” he continued. “We
have employees on the tip floor who direct
the drivers, open tailgates and manage the
process. This allows drivers to stay in their
trucks, saves time and it’s much safer.”

While a dumping site is an inherently
dirty place, Sun Recycling is dedicated to
cleanliness. For example, the company paved
the facility’s lot and runs a sweeper with a
magnet regularly to pick up objects, such as
nails that can cause severe tire damage.

“Anything we can do to be more userfriendly
helps us earn additional customers,”
said Brian. “We take numerous measures to
keep drivers safe and clean, and I think they
appreciate that.”

Komatsu equipment

To maintain an efficient flow on its tip floor,
Sun Recycling turns to Komatsu equipment
from Midlantic Machinery and Territory
Manager Shane Pinzka. The recycler has three
Komatsu wheel loaders (two WA380s and a
WA270) and two Komatsu Hybrid HB215LC-1
excavators.

The wheel loaders help manage the stockpile
of materials and once it’s separated, load it onto
trucks, while the excavators separate the items
and load the metering belt. Sun Recycling is
impressed with how both the wheel loaders
and excavators perform – 10 to 12 hours a day –
in such an extreme environment.

“Going with the Hybrid excavators was a decision that has paid off well for us,” related Brian. “We basically have the machines swinging from one spot to load the system. The fuel savings have been significant, and that’s where the Hybrids shine.

“The wheel loaders have exceeded our expectations,” he continued. “They have the power and maneuverability to handle this work, and they are comfortable. Our operators love the cabs.”

Both the wheel loaders and excavators are equipped with waste-handling packages,
which maximize uptime. “In the past, with a
competitive brand, we were blowing out the
radiators three or four times a day, and the
machines would still go down,” said Brian. “With
the Komatsus, we don’t need to blow out the
radiators until the end of the shift.”

The machines came with KOMTRAX,
Komatsu’s remote machine-monitoring system,
in addition to Komatsu CARE, which provides
complimentary maintenance through Midlantic
for the first 2,000 hours or three years. Sun
Recycling also purchased Extended CARE that
covers equipment through 8,000 hours.

“Komatsu and Midlantic treat us like we’re
their most important customer,” said Brian. “We
all have KOMTRAX updates sent to our phones,
so we always have the latest information. Plus,
Midlantic takes care of all the maintenance on the
machines, which eliminates a lot of work for us
and keeps the machines running. Our relationship
with Midlantic and Komatsu has made a huge
difference in our business.”

Calculated, green growth

Sun Companies is involved in many different
ventures, but recycling serves as its engine for
growth. Both Brian and Andrew expect that to
remain the case in the future.

“We want to continue to grow,” said Brian.
“There is the opportunity to do so, through small,
calculated growth. We need to do it in a way that
makes sense. We’d love to have another facility in
the future.”

“Growth is going to happen, so we are being
cautious in how we expand,” echoed Andrew.
“It’s easy to buy more trucks and build a new
plant, but we have to explore the downstream
effects. More trucks mean added maintenance
and a greater number of shifts. Is that sustainable?
We are looking at all of that.”

In keeping with its commitment to recycling,
both Andrew and Brian say the company will
continue to explore more efficient waste-energy
applications.

“We have a lot of material that would serve as
great fuel,” said Andrew. “We believe in green
technologies, so our goal is to discover a way to
get more of our material into that industry.”